Photo hosting/sharing service

[Edcculus]

Does anyone here use photo sharing sites? If so, what do you use, and what do you like about it.


I'm looking for a site/service that I can use to upload pictures or albums to share with friends/family instead of Facebook. I'm ok with a paid service provided its not above $50 a year. What I'd like is the service to provide a simple URL that can be a portal to my pictures and galleries. I'd also like the option to password protect certain albums. I'd also like a simple URL I can give to people I want to see my pictures. Edcculus.photosharingsite.com for instance.


I started the 14 day free trial at Smugmug. So far, I like the fact that I can upload directly from Lightroom, it gives all of the options I listed above and is $40 a year for the basic account. I also looked at Photobucket, but am having a hard time finding pricing info. From what I can tell, it does not give a "guest portal" to your albums similar to Smugmug.


I did briefly consider Picasa, but with the hard integration in Google +, I'm steering away. I'm trying to get my photos AWAY from social media, not closer integrated into it. Flickr seems the same way. I don't have a Yahoo ID, or a Yahoo account, and with the way Yahoo is floundering recently, I think I want to stay as far away as possible.


Does anyone else use a different paid service that I'm not aware of?

 

[Mick]

I've used photobucket for ages. There are lots out there besides this one.

http://photobucket.com/

I only use the free service and mostly for public pics (like the ones I post on here)

I own 9 servers so don't really have any need for a photo hosting service other than to separate me from the pics (i.e. a generic URL rather than one of my domain names or IP addresses)

 

[theblindog]

+1 for photobucket

 

[Edcculus]

I'm looking for something more than just public hosting to post pics to a forum. I'd eventually like to host them on one of my own servers, and even have a domain, but I'd have to spend some money before I can make that happen.

 

[jtb]

+1 for smugmug. I've been with them for about 4 years. I like it for the sharing capabilities. I can have public pictures and completely private gallaries that I can share using is a simple password. They people I share with (mostly family) don't need to have some special account (like flickr and yahoo).

The customer service is outstanding, it's a family run business.

 

[Edcculus]

Ah, thats another good point. I don't want people to have to sign up for a service to look at or download my pictures.

 

[Mick]

I'm looking for something more than just public hosting to post pics to a forum. I'd eventually like to host them on one of my own servers, and even have a domain, but I'd have to spend some money before I can make that happen.

Photobucket offers what you are looking for. I use it one way but you can configure your galleries to be public or private (mix and match). No one needs to "join" or be a member of any social media or other BS to view your content. You can also set up custom URLs for your galleries. This is all available in the free account. The paid account has more options but everything you have said you wanted is available in the free accounts.

This is a free gallery that I set to public so you can see everything that I put in it

http://s1066.photobucket.com/albums/u414/turtle-web/SPOTD/

This is my main gallery I use for posting images on here (I keep it private to keep folks from just browsing all of my posted images).

http://s1066.photobucket.com/albums/u414/turtle-web/

 

[Edcculus]

Does photobucket let you upload full resolution files?

 

[jamesnj]

I'll jump on the SmugMug love. I can't imagine switching to a different site. Good features, good support (check out their forum at http://www.dgrin.com). I cringe everytime I get directed to a photobucket or flickr link (their navigation has never impressed me.)

Zenfolio is supposed to be good as well, but I don't know their pricing.

Jim

http://jziegler.smugmug.com

 

[djh]

Ed,

I have a free account at photobucket and a paid for account at pBase.com. They are for different purposes and both suit my needs. These days, you will be able to get a lot of bandwidth for $50!

Feel free to drop me a note if you need more info.

 

[Mick]

Does photobucket let you upload full resolution files?

I would have to dig into the restrictions on a paid account. The free accounts have been all I need for forum image posting and that is only to buffer "me" from the photos I post. I crop, size, and compress the images I use on forums so my focus is opposite of yours (fast loading low bandwidth not high rez print quality)

Sorry can't help you further on this. Maybe someone with a commercial account can jump in.

If you have a domain why don't you use one of the open source photo gallery scripts that create a gallery from a folder of images? They are easy to set up and all you need to do is upload images to a folder and the script does the rest.

 

[Snargle]

I used to use PBase.com but they started having technical issues. I'm now with zenfolio.com and highly recommend it. It's a paid service but it's not a lot and I like it a lot better than the freebies.

 

[Edcculus]

I went ahead and bit the bullet for the basic account with Smugmug. I found a coupon code that got me 20% off, so the basic account only ran me $32 for the year.

Snargle - I looked at Zenfolio, but unless I'm wrong, its more expensive than Smugmug, and the basic account only lets you upload 2 GB? Smugmug gives unlimited storage for all levels of accounts. I did consider Pbase too, but I didn't like the layout as much.

So far, I really like the Smugmug account. I'm not using it for image hosting for websites or forums. I can share my main URL (username.smugmug.com) with friends and family, and they can see all of my galleries. They can download full res versions and even order prints. I really like this feature. I can upload my albums from holidays/family events and if my mom wants prints, she can just order them instead of me having to make time to have them made for her. I also like the fact that I can manage all of my albums directly from Lightroom. Any edits I make to a picture or album can be automatically re-uploaded to my Smugmug account.

 

[jtb]

I went ahead and bit the bullet for the basic account with Smugmug. I found a coupon code that got me 20% off, so the basic account only ran me $32 for the year.

Snargle - I looked at Zenfolio, but unless I'm wrong, its more expensive than Smugmug, and the basic account only lets you upload 2 GB? Smugmug gives unlimited storage for all levels of accounts. I did consider Pbase too, but I didn't like the layout as much.

So far, I really like the Smugmug account. I'm not using it for image hosting for websites or forums. I can share my main URL (username.smugmug.com) with friends and family, and they can see all of my galleries. They can download full res versions and even order prints. I really like this feature. I can upload my albums from holidays/family events and if my mom wants prints, she can just order them instead of me having to make time to have them made for her. I also like the fact that I can manage all of my albums directly from Lightroom. Any edits I make to a picture or album can be automatically re-uploaded to my Smugmug account.

Good choice! I think you will enjoy it!

-- jtb

 

[Mr-Scruffy]

Maybe you might want to look at freeimagehosting.net.

 

[donoma]

My mom is into amateur photography and has started posting pics to a site you are describing. She uses shutterfly and we have had a great experience thus far with them. She uses a password for family and has even setup different pages for each grandkid. She gave us parents the option to upload pics & videos as well. So far, *knock on wood* we haven't had any issues.